Mara Karlin

Mara Karlin, Ph.D., is a nonresident senior fellow with the Security and Strategy team at the Brookings Institution. She is also the Director of Strategic Studies and an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Karlin has served in national security roles for five U.S. secretaries of defense, advising on policies spanning strategic planning, defense budgeting, future wars and the evolving security environment, and regional affairs involving the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. She is currently a Commissioner for the congressionally-mandated Syria Study Group and previously worked on the congressionally-mandated National Defense Strategy Commission.